usb to ide converter drive not showing up in my computer

[becca4607]

usb to ide converter drive not showing up in my computer. The drive has power so thats not the problem. The usb is recognized.

[Builder]

Computer?
OS?
Is the drive plugged in before booting or after?
Is it converting a USB drive to IDE or IDE to USB?

I have used IDE to USB on a couple of notebooks (Dell, Toshiba; both Windows XP) with no problems reading the drives or having them show up. Assuming some version of Windows, you can check Device Manager to see if there are problems with either the port or the drive. While I had no need to install a driver (WinXP already had one installed), driver software came with my adapter. Again assuming Windows, you may not have a pre-existing driver and will have to install the one that came with your drive/adapter.

Good luck,
Kevin

[YvetteKuhns]

I tried connecting different hard drives using IDE to USB on my son's laptop. Most worked, but some did not. The hard drive does not need to have an operating system, if you are using it to store files. The hard drive would need an operating system, if you wish to use it as the primary hard drive. You would have to change the primary in the BIOS.

You may not need to use the driver that came with your adapter or you may need to update it for your operating system. When you connect your hard drive, it usually works as plug and play (or plug and pray), but if it doesn't, Windows should ask you to install the driver. If you installed the driver, try looking for an updated driver on the manufacturer's website. You can replace the driver and see if that works.

I have noticed that some hard drives work better than others. For example, some old hard drives are not detected by the BIOS and/or the operating system. I did better with Maxtor than Western Digital brand.